Adulteration, and its Remedy

The Cornhill Magazine

[After the rather silly opening paragraphs, the following anonymous article from the 1860 Cornhill Magazine gets down to business, providing horrifying details of the many poisonous materials found in Victorian food, after which it examines proposed laws and considers other solutions to the problem. — George P. Landow.]

THERE is a certain ugly little monster of most insidious habits, and endowed
with the power of rendering himself invisible, of assuming a variety of
forms and shapes, and of being almost ubiquitous. He not only infests
our clothes the cloth of men's coats, and the silk of ladies' dresses but
he is to be found concealed in most of the articles we consume, whether
food or drink. Indeed, he is scarcely ever absent from a single meal of
which we partake; being found alike at the breakfast, the dinner, and the
supper table. At breakfast he lies hidden in the milk-jug, the butterdish, and the tea or the coffee pot; at dinner, in the sauces, in the
cayenne, in the beer, and even in the bright red wine with which we
would cheer ourselves; while, at night, the rascal often hides himself in
the tumbler of punch, which so many are accustomed to take, and regard
in the light of a composing draught.

His great desire seems to be to make his way into our stomachs, and,
when there, to work all the mischief in his power giving us headaches,
making us sick, and disordering our systems in a variety of ways: he
won't even allow us to smoke our pipes in peace; and, as to taking a
pinch of snuff without his making his way into our nostrils, that is quite
out of the question. Not only is his presence almost universal, but he
may be found in a variety of places and articles at one and the same time.

He is not only a Protean but even a seductive monster, resembling, in
his power of assuming different forms, the Evil One, who now in the form
of a serpent, now in that of a toad, tempted our first parents. Sometimes
he tempts us through our eyes, making things poisonous and deadly look
attractive and inviting; especially bottled fruits, pickles, and the sweets
and bonbons which we give to our children; at others, he tempts us
through the palate by adding grains of paradise to gin, or through the
nose, as when he augments the pungency of snuff by mixing with it the
deleterious and stinging chromates of potash.

Add to these characteristics the further one that he possesses the power
of haunting us with the fear of his presence, thus working almost as
much harm as though he were really present.

Lastly, the monster has a provoking way of insinuating that he lurks
in our coffee, cocoa or mustard, not for any evil purpose, but entirely for
our good: for the advantage of our pockets, and the benefit of our health.
The name by which this strange, disgusting, and poisonous demon is known,
is ADULTERATION.

Some acquaintances of ours, a certain Eve and Adam, had a great
horror of this pestilent little intruder, and resolved to guard themselves in
every possible way against his attacks. They examined the bread and
other articles they consumed, and for a time thought themselves secure; but in an unguarded and unlucky moment, Eve saw in a shop-window some
Eest India pickles, presenting a most verdant and attractive appearance.
(She hastened to secure the prize, took them home and tempted the unfortunate Adam with them; he also was deceived, and they both partook of
what should have been to them forbidden fruit. Soon they were seized
with certain qualms not as in the case of their progenitors, of conscience
but of sickness, with cramps, diarrhoea, headache, and other suspicious
symptoms. Suddenly the thought rushed into Adam's mind, "Have I
been caught at last? has that fiend Adulteration poisoned me?" Possessing
chemical lore, he thrust into the too tempting pickles the bright
of a steel knife, and, after a time, to his horror and consternation,
drew the monster forth in the form of a layer of copper sheathing the
knife. Here, then, was the cause of all the mischief of the danger to his
own life and that of his deluded Eve.

It is very obvious that something must be done to put a stop to the
vicious pranks of this domestic pest; but possessing as he does the qualities
of ubiquity and invisibility, and the Protean power of assuming different
shapes, it is difficult to determine how most effectually he may be dealt with.

Some may exclaim, "Fine him." Ah! but he is rich, and would
scarcely care for your fines: he does not play all these tricks with our
bread, beer, and wine, for nothing; being a consummate rogue, he has
grown rich by cheating. Indeed, he thinks little of making his way into
your breeches' pocket, and transferring the money therein contained to his
own. Your fines, then, would not stop him in his evil courses.

Why not try imprisonment? Well, to be committed as a rogue, and
made to labour at the treadmill for a time, would be a fitting punishment.
but fines and imprisonment, though deterring, are not preventives.
expose the rascal, and you may frustrate his devices. Summon to your
aid the resources of science, resort to the test-tube and the microscope,
track him through all his devious ways, discover all his bad practices,
strip him of the artifices by which he is enabled to render himself invisible, and hold him up to the gaze and scorn of the world. In this way,
we may hope in time to succeed in expelling him from the country.

But, it may be asked, what proofs have we that he plays such tricks
with our food and drink, and even with the medicines administered to us
for the relief of sickness? Unfortunately, they are overwhelming.

For some years The Lancet published from week to week the results
of the analyses of nearly every important article of food and drink, as well
as of many medicines. These analyses at length amounted to between
two and three thousand, each representing a separate sample or article.
From these results it appeared that the demon had been playing his tricks
with by far the larger proportion of the samples: watering the milk, red-leading the cayenne, coppering the pickles, poisoning the confectionery,
and bedevilling nearly everything. Of the accuracy of the results no
room for even the shadow of doubt was left, for in every instance the
name and residence of the vendor of every article analyzed, whether it was found to be genuine or adulterated, was printed in full, and thus publicly proclaimed. In this way the very strongest testimony which it was
possible to give was afforded of the truthfulness of the analyses: in fact,
a similar guarantee was never before offered in the case of any analogous
scientific inquiries.

The results disclosed by the labours of the Analytical Sanatory Commission of The Lancet were of so serious and alarming a character, that
they excited almost universal attention. The public and the press took
the matter up energetically; at length, Parliament was moved, and a select
committee of the House of Commons appointed to consider the subject.
This committee examined a great number of witnesses including scientific
men, manufacturers, and shopkeepers; so that both sides of the question
were fully heard. Its report a very remarkable document, states:
"We cannot avoid the conclusion that adulteration widely prevails;"
adding that, "Not only is the public health thus exposed to danger, and
pecuniary fraud committed on the whole community, but the public
morality is tainted, and the high commercial character of the country
seriously lowered, both at home and in the eyes of foreign countries."
Grave statements, emanating from such high authority. The committee
further stated, that the evil was one which required to be dealt with by
the Legislature; and they made certain suggestions and recommendations
to the House for the suppression of adulteration.

There are, then, abundant and conclusive proofs of the prevalence of
adulteration. Let us now explain its nature.

In a work treating of the methods by which adulteration may be
discovered, the following clear definition of the practice is given:

"It consists in the intentional addition to an article, for purposes of
gain or deception, of any substance or substances, the presence of which
is not acknowledged in the name under which the article is sold."

According to this definition, the sale of coffee mixed with chicory as
coffee, of cocoa with which sugar and starch have been purposely mixed,
and of mustard consisting of mustard, flour, and turmeric, as cocoa and
mustard, constitute so many adulterations.

The consumer entering a shop, and asking for any article, has a right
to expect that he will be supplied with what he wants, and for which he
pays: this right undeniably belongs to the purchaser.
The words coffee, cocoa, and mustard, convey distinct ideas; these are
the names of certain vegetable productions; coffee, of the berries of the
coffee-plant; cocoa and mustard, of the seeds of the cocoa and mustard
plants, bruised and reduced to powder. Any application, therefore, of these
terms to mixtures and compounds is obviously deceptive and fraudulent.

Adulteration not only lowers the money value of an article, but it
lessens its dietetical qualities, and in many cases it renders it positively
unwholesome: as when injurious substances are introduced.

Further, it has of late years become a complete science, and it is now
practised with consummate art and skill; not only are a host of different
substances employed, but much ingenuity is displayed in the manner of
their use. Thus, substances of less value are used, for the sake of their
bulk and weight, as substitutes for dearer articles, under the names of
which alone they are generally sold: it is for this purpose that roasted
wheat and rye have been added to ground chicory and coffee, water to
milk, and so on with many other articles.

But this addition of cheaper substitutes, often of a different colour
from that of the article with which they are mixed, frequently so alters
the appearance of the genuine commodity, that it becomes necessary, in
order to restore the colour, to have recourse to the use of pigments.
Now it is through these that a variety of injurious and even poisonous
substances are introduced into articles of food and drink. It is to conceal
other adulterations that Venetian red is added to adulterated chicory and
cocoa, burnt sugar or black-jack to coffee, annatto to milk, &c.

Again, the dilution of articles renders not only the employment of
colouring matters necessary, but by reducing the natural flavour and
strength of the diluted articles, necessitates the use of a third class of substances: as treacle to restore the sweetness to milk reduced with water, of
oocculus indicus to give apparent strength to beer, and of grains of paradise
TO impart pungency to gin, when its real or alcoholic strength has been
jowered by the addition of water.

Lastly, a fourth class of substances is employed to impart to various
articles of consumption a more attractive appearance than they would
otherwise possess; simply to please the eye, in fact. This is constantly
done at the expense of the wholesomeness of the articles thus treated. It
is with this view that Bole Armenian, a red earth, is added to essence of
anchovies, potted meats and fish, &c.; copper to pickles, bottled and crystallized fruits; pigmentary poisons of all sorts to sugar confectionery;
Mid alum to bread, to cause the flour to appear whiter than it would
be naturally.

Port-wine, or what is often sold as such, affords an example of the
skill and cunning employed in adulteration. First, the wine itself is more
or less compounded of logwood, sugar, and spirit; next, the crust on the
bottle is precipitated by artificial means, with a view to give it the appearance of age; the corks are stained with the same object; and even the
very cobwebs which envelop the bottles are often borrowed.

There are two means, by one or other of which the majority of the
adulterations practised may be discovered, chemistry and the microscope. The former had long been employed for the purpose; but it is
only recently that the microscope has been used with that object; and a
very serviceable and important application of that instrument it has proved.

Chemistry is adapted particularly to the detection of the various
chemical substances and salts used for adulteration, as these are for the
most part of an inorganic nature.

The microscope, on the other hand, is specially suited to the detection
of all organized structures or substances, as those of animals and. plants.
On examining with the naked eye any animal or plant, we detect a variety
of evidences of organization or structure; biit there is in every part of
every animal or vegetable production a vast amount of organization
wholly invisible to the unaided sight, and which is revealed only to the
powers of the microscope. Now, this minute and microscopical organization is different in different parts of the same animal or plant, and different
in different animals and plants; so that by means of these differences
rightly understood, the skilful microscopical observer is enabled to identifyin many cases infinitely minute portions of animal or vegetable tissues,
and to refer them to the species to which they belong.

By means of the microscope, therefore, one vegetable substance may very
generally be discriminated from another; one root or stem from another,
one kind of starch or flour from another, and one kind of seed from
another. In this way the microscope becomes an invaluable and indispensable aid in the discovery of adulteration.

Up to the period of the employment of the microscope, many hundreds
of substances might be, and were used for adulteration, the detection of
which by chemical means was wholly impossible. Thus, by chemistry, it is
seldom possible to distinguish one vegetable powder from another, while, by
means of that wonder-revealing instrument, there is scarcely a vegetable
substance which may not be identified and distinguished with certainty.

And this discrimination, by means of the microscope, can even be
accomplished when the vegetable substances have been pulverized, and
reduced by the aid of powerful machinery to the condition of almost impalpable powder. Further, it is not merely possible to distinguish between
one vegetable powder and another when separate, but if a variety of
different vegetable substances are mixed together in the pulverulent
condition as roots, seeds, the starches the whole may, in general,
by a skilled microscopic observer, be identified. As many as ten distinct vegetable powders, all blended with each other, have been thus
distinguished.

And, still more singular to relate, the majority of vegetable substances
may be recognized in the powdered state even after having been roasted,
charred, or partially burned. Thus, it is very easy to identify the coffee,
chicory, rye, and wheat flour contained in the mixture often sold as ground
coffee.

In the microscope, then, the scientific observer is provided with a
most powerful and searching means of discovering adulteration. The first
application of this instrument created no little surprise and alarm amongst
the perpetrators of such frauds. Hundreds of sophistications were brought
to light which had for years escaped discovery, and thus a blow was given
to adulteration from which it can never wholly recover; for the security,
and consequent impunity, with which it had hitherto been practised, have
been thereby destroyed.

We now propose to consider what has been done with a view to
carry into effect the recommendations for the suppression of adulteration
made by the Committee of the House of Commons, as contained in their
report.

Three sessions since, Mr. Scholefield, the chairman of the Adulteration
Committee, introduced a Bill into Parliament for the Prevention of Adulteration; but the session terminated before an opportunity apparently
occurred for the discussion of the measure. Another Bill was introduced
the following session, but was also withdrawn. At the commencement of
trie present session, a measure was brought forward for the third time,
and, on this occasion, with greater success, for it has passed the House of
Commons, and has been sent to the Upper House for the consideration of
their Lordships.

It will be profitable at the present juncture to consider the provisions
of this Bill, in order to ascertain to what extent it is adapted to check the
evil in question, and put an end to the tricks of trade involved in the
practice of adulteration.

In the first place the Bill is entirely permissive: nobody is compelled
to do anything whatever under it; and should the vestries, district boards,
a ad other local authorities in whom the power of appointing analysts is
vested, so determine, it may remain a dead letter: a result in most cases
highly probable; for it is hardly to be supposed that these vestries, composed as in great part they are of tradespeople, will be desirous of carrying
oat the Bill efficiently.

Secondly, it is to be observed, that its operation is confined to articles
of food and drink: it does not include drugs, although the prevention of
the adulteration of these is of the utmost consequence. To reduce the
strength of a medicine by adulteration the doses of medicines being
fixed quantities, determined by careful observation and experiment, and
the amount of adulteration being indefinite is to introduce into the
practice of medicine the greatest uncertainty and confusion. If, affirms
an able writer, we could possibly eliminate from the mass of human
disease that occasioned by the constant use of deleterious food, we should
find that it amounted to a very large percentage of the whole, and that
one of the best friends of the doctor would prove to be the adulterator.
But even our refuge fails us in our hour of need, when the tools of the
nodical man, like those of the Sappers and Miners before Sebastopol, often
turn out to be worthless.

Further, its application is hampered by certain restrictions which will
go far in practice to render it inoperative.

It applies —

1st. To the sale of articles which, to the knowledge of the seller, are
adulterated in such a way as to be injurious to health.

2nd. To the sale of articles expressly warranted as pure and unadult rated, which are adulterated and not pure.

The precise words of the clause are: "Every person who shall sell any article of food or drink, with which, to the knowledge of such person,
any ingredient or material injurious to the health of persons eating or
drinking such article has been mixed; and every person who shall sell,
expressly warranted as pure or unadulterated, any article of food or drink
which is adulterated or not pure, shall for every such offence," &c.

It will be evident, on an attentive consideration of these words, that,
under the Bill, articles may (and doubtless will) be sold with impunity,
which are adulterated in a manner injurious to health, in those cases
where knowledge of the adulteration cannot be established. It will also
be apparent that articles will still be sold which are adulterated and not
pure; there being no restriction whatever on the sale of such articles,
provided they are not expressly warranted.

Thus, under the Bill, ample opportunity will be afforded for the
practice of adulteration. Mixtures of all kinds may still be sold without
let or hindrance, if not warranted; and this although the names under
which they are sold do not convey any intimation of their compound
character. Regarded from one point of view, the measure actually
legalizes the sale of mixed articles, when not warranted: that is, under
certain circumstances, it affords a legal sanction to the perpetration of
adulteration, and the consequent robbery of the public.

The restrictions to which we have referred, as impairing greatly the
chances of any benefit to the public from the Bill, are various.

In the case of the sale of articles adulterated in a manner injurious to
health, knowledge of the fact on the part of the seller must be proved.
Now, in the majority of cases, it will be impossible to produce legal
evidence of this knowledge; so that this kind of adulteration will still
continue to be practised to a great extent, and that with absolute
impunity.

A second restriction is, that in the absence of a warranty, any now
injurious mixture may be sold; now it is chiefly through the sale of such
mixtures that so much fraud is committed.

These distinctions are wholly unnecessary, while they go far, as already
stated, to deprive the Bill of any value it may possess. The sale of an
adulterated article without knowledge on the part of the seller, and without express warranty, ought to be sufficient to constitute an offence under
the Bill; the knowledge of the fact, or its absence, ought merely to make
a difference in the degree of the offence, and in the extent of the consequent punishment.

The words "expressly warranted" were introduced in order to permit
the unrestrained sale of such mixed articles as cocoa and mustard. If they
did this, and nothing more, not much harm would be done; but, indirectly, they legalize all those adulterations which consist in the mixture of
a cheaper non-injurious substance with a dearer article, under the name
of which such mixture is usually sold: a practice that constitutes the
great profit of adulteration as heretofore carried on.

Now, in place of departing from right principle in order to meet the
exceptional cases of cocoa and mustard, the proper course would have been
to alter the names pf those mixed articles so as to render apparent the fact
:hat they are really mixtures, and not, as the names now used imply, that
hey are composed wholly of cocoa and mustard. This could have been
done readily enough, and without injury to the trade of those engaged
in the manufacture of such articles. Thus the article now called mustard,
and which consists of wheat-flour, turmeric, and mustard, in nearly varying proportions, might be sold as what it really is, under the name of "mustard condiment;" and the various preparations vended as cocoa, granulated, dietetic, homeopathic cocoa, &c., might be sold with the addition of
the word "mixture," or by substituting the word "chocolate," which
is known to be a compound article for cocoa: e.g. "granulated cocoa
mixture," "granulated chocolate," "dietetic chocolate," and so on. Were
these alterations made, these compound articles might have been warranted
under the Bill, which cannot now be done. The true course was to have
left the manufacturers of these articles to conform to the law, and not to
have altered the law to suit them: especially to the injury of the public.
The earlier Bills introduced into the House of Commons did not contain
any such concession.

Other restrictions are to be found embodied in the second clause of
the Bill, which provides that the purchaser shall give notice to the seller
or 'his servants, of his intention to have the articles purchased analyzed,
and shall also afford him the opportunity of accompanying the purchaser to
an analyst appointed under the Act, in order to secure such article from
being tampered with. The first condition is reasonable enough, but the
second borders upon the absurd. With such a provision as this, the
chances of prosecution under the Act are but few. Supposing an analyst
to be appointed for a large district or for a whole county, the seller and
the purchaser, perhaps a timid woman or a nervous man, would have
to travel in each other's company some ten or twenty miles, as the case
might be. Fancy what an agreeable journey, and how amicable the
conversation by the way! Surely such cases might be left to be proved
by the ordinary rules of evidence: the witnesses are examined on oath;
ind it is not more likely that they would perjure themselves in a case
of adulteration than in any other case. It was scarcely possible to have
adopted any provision more calculated than this to destroy the efficiency
of the Bill.

The punishments for adulteration consist, for the first offence, in the
infliction of a fine of not less than five shillings nor more than five
guineas; for the second offence it is rendered lawful for the justices to
publish the name, place of abode, and offence, of the person convicted of
adulteration.

The opinion has already been expressed that fines are insufficient to
meet the evil, and certainly such small fines as those named in the Bill
will do but little good. Of what avail will it be to fine a manufacturer,
who sells his tons of adulterated goods weekly, five shillings or five pounds?

The man who gets drunk is fined five shillings: ought the fraud involved
in the practice of adulteration to receive no greater punishment? The
Wine Licences Bill contains a more efficient provision than this. It
provides for the infliction of a fine of not less than ten pounds or more
than twenty pounds on any person who shall "fraudulently dilute or in
any ways adulterate" such wines as he may sell; and this for a first
offence, while for a second the licence to sell is altogether suspended for
five years.

Nothing can be more appropriate, and it may be added, more efficient
than the punishment provided for second offences; and much good might
have been expected to have resulted from it, had the other provision of
the Bill been of a less feeble character: but considering the nature of the
Bill altogether, there is much reason to fear that the penalty for second
convictions will rarely if ever be inflicted.

Such are the chief provisions of the "Adulteration of Food and Drink
Bill." A few others may be very briefly noticed. The complaints are to
be heard by magistrates, and to be disposed of by summary conviction
before two justices of the peace, with a right of appeal to Quarter Sessions.
The purchaser of any article of food may have it analyzed, where any
analyst has been appointed under the Bill, on payment of not less than
two-and-sixpence or more than ten-and-sixpence. Lastly, justices may
order articles to be analyzed, on complaint being made, by any skilled
person whom they may appoint. This is a very excellent provision,
because it is evident from it that the purchaser may at once make his
complaint before the justices, whether an analyst has been appointed
or not, and the justices may at their own discretion order the analysis
of the suspected article.

One very great defect in the Bill is the absence of any provision
authorizing the appointment of a central authority for the regulation of
the whole subject; for reference in doubtful or disputed cases; and for
the issuing of general instructions.

Neither does the Bill define what constitutes injurious adulteration:
it has left this an open question, which, in the event of prosecutions
under it, will occasion endless diversity of opinion, and give rise to much
litigation.

The number cf substances possessing more or less injurious properties,
employed in adulteration, is considerable, as will be apparent on an examination of the following statement:

The three false Brunswick greens, being mixtures of the chromates of lead and indigo or Prussian blue

Sugar confectionery.

Oxychlorides of copper or true Brunswick greens

Ditto

Opiment, or sulphuret of arsenicum

Ditto

Forrocyanide of iron, or Prussian blue

Ditto; also in green tea.

Antwerp blue, or Prussian blue and chalk

Sugar confectionery.

Indigo

'Ditto; and in green tea,

Ultramarine

Sugar confectionery.

Artificial ultramarine

Ditto.

Hydrated sulphate of lime, mineral white, or plaster-of-paris

Flour, bread, cocoa, mustard, sugar confectionery

Carbonate of lime

Cocoa, mustard, annatto.

Terra alba, or Cornish clay

Flour, starch, cocoa,

Alum

Flour, bread.

Suphuric acid

Vinegar, gin.

Bronze powders, or alloys of copper and zinc

Confectionery

While, therefore, the Bill must be regarded as a very weak one, we
w mid fain entertain the hope that some good may result from it, and that
it may be influential in diminishing an evil which is wide-spread and
gc nerally felt and acknowledged.

One beneficial effect it will have: the system of warranting articles
w: 11 under it become very general. Traders and shopkeepers will find it
to their advantage, whenever they can do so, to warrant the articles they
sell The public, on its part, must be sure to inquire for those expressly
warranted goods; and it ought to regard with especial and habitual
suspicion all articles the genuineness of which is not guaranteed by a
warranty; for we may feel assured, as a general rule, that when articles
are not warranted, there is something wrong about them. The purchaser
should require that the warranty be written or printed upon each package
or article purchased; and he should further require that the goods enumerated in any invoice or bill be likewise warranted. If this precaution be
adopted, indirectly, some good cannot fail to ensue from the measure.

"Put not your faith in princes:" to which we may add, nor in Parliaments either, especially in any case in which people can help themselves.
In the matter of adulteration the public can do much to protect itself, by
requiring with all purchases of articles of food or drink the guarantee to
which we have adverted; but there is a second means of affording great
additional protection, and that is, an organization originating with and supported by consumers. It should consist of members paying a small annual
fee, and have for its object the analyzation, free of any further charge, of
such articles as are forwarded for analysis by the members. Periodical
reports should be issued under the sanction of a committee of management,
giving the results, whatever these might be, of the examination of the
various articles. Such an organization as this would do immense good,
much more, indeed, than the proposed Act of Parliament, the provisions
of which we have been engaged in considering.

We have now shown that the remedy which the parliamentary doctors,
under the guidance of Dr. Scholefield, have provided as a cure for a great
social evil, is weak, diluted, and itself adulterated; partaking rather of the
character of a Placebo, than that of an effective and searching medicine
adapted for an active and potent disease. Let us, at least, comfort ourselves with the hope that it is only a first prescription, embracing the
preliminary treatment, as the doctors call it, and intended to be followed
by more decided and vigorous remedies.

Such treatment will hardly scotch the monster Adulteration, much less
kill him: he will still be caught from time to time at his old tricks. There
is nothing, in fact, to prevent him from still colouring our cayenne with
red lead, adding cocculus indicus to beer, destroying the coats of the
drinker's stomach by doses of a mixture of cayenne, or grains of paradise
and gin, and poisoning our children through the sweets made so attractive
in order to tempt them; nay, he will still destroy the last hope of the
physician by deteriorating the drugs upon which he relies for the salvation
of life. In fact, there will still be " death in the pot," and even in the.
gallipot.